耳穴貼壓治療過敏性鼻炎之概況

Ear Acupressure for Allergic Rhinitis

過敏性鼻炎在台灣之盛行率約為24-29%，除了症狀帶來不適，亦會影響生活品質。西醫治療過敏性鼻炎以藥物治療為主，效果不佳時則採手術治療。中醫治療過敏性鼻炎除辨證論治給予藥物治療外，外治療法亦具良好療效。在中醫外治療法中，又以耳穴貼壓最為簡便，使用上不受時間地域限制，副作用少。本文蒐集近15 年以耳穴貼壓治療過敏性鼻炎之取穴、治療方式、治療效果等資料，結果顯示耳穴貼壓不論單獨或是配合其它中醫療法，用於治療過敏性鼻炎均有良好成效，療程越長效果越好，多種治療方式結合的效果優於單一治療方式，停止治療後之療效亦較西藥治療持久。

In Taiwan, allergic rhinitis is in prevalence of approximately 24-29%. In addition to uncomfortable symptoms, allergic rhinitis also affects the quality of life. Western medicine uses medicinal therapies to treat allergic rhinitis or uses surgeries for replacement when the other therapies are ineffective. In Chinese medicine, in addition to herb-based treatment after differential diagnoses, external treatment is also efficient to treat allergic rhinitis. Ear acupressure is the most convenient modality in Chinese external treatment. The skills of ear acupuncture are worked with few side effects and are not restricted to time and location. In this research, we have reviewed the data of the treatment of allergic rhinitis over the past 15 years. These data included point locations, treatment methods, and treatment effects of the ear acupuncture. The results showed that, ear acupressure whether used alone or combined with other Chinese medicine therapies, good efficacy can be achieved. From the review of these data, it showed that the longer the treatment, the better efficacy was. We also observed that the effects of combination therapies were better than ear acupressure alone. As a final remark, the curative effects by ear acupressure were more durable than the western therapies after the treatment.